<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >LVM HOWTO</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE=" Introduction " HREF="intro.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="book" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="BOOK" ><A NAME="AEN1" ></A ><DIV CLASS="TITLEPAGE" ><H1 CLASS="title" ><A NAME="AEN2" ></A >LVM HOWTO</H1 ><H3 CLASS="author" ><A NAME="AEN4" ></A >AJ Lewis</H3 ><DIV CLASS="affiliation" ><DIV CLASS="address" ><P CLASS="address" ><br> <TT CLASS="email" ><<A HREF="mailto:alewis(at)rackable.com" >alewis(at)rackable.com</A >></TT ><br> </P ></DIV ></DIV ><P CLASS="copyright" ><A HREF="ln124.html" >Copyright</A > © 2002-2003 Sistina Software, Inc</P ><P CLASS="copyright" ><A HREF="ln124.html" >Copyright</A > © 2004-2005 Red Hat, Inc</P ><P CLASS="copyright" ><A HREF="ln124.html" >Copyright</A > © 2005-2006 Terrascale Technologies, Inc</P ><P CLASS="copyright" ><A HREF="ln124.html" >Copyright</A > © 2006 Rackable Systems, Inc</P ><DIV CLASS="revhistory" ><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TH ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="3" ><B >Revision History</B ></TH ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.19</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2006-11-27</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Clarified full snapshot conditions in <A HREF="snapshotintro.html" ><A HREF="snapshotintro.html" >Section 3.8</A ></A > and <A HREF="snapshots_backup.html#snapbackcreate" ><A HREF="snapshots_backup.html#snapbackcreate" >Section 13.4.1</A ></A > and added a note about resizing the origin of a snapshot; Fixed Rackable copyright; Fixed e-mail address</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.18</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2006-11-27</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Clarify whole disk usage in <A HREF="initdisks.html" ><A HREF="initdisks.html" >Section 11.1</A ></A >; Updated copyright; Updated e-mail address</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.17</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2005-10-03</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Added FAQ entry for max size of LVs in LVM2; Did some cleanup of "Recover physical volume metadata" section; Updated e-mail address</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2005-07-15</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Added lvm2 boot-time scripts info; Added "Recover physical volume metadata" section - thanks to Maximilian Attems for the patch</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.15</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2005-06-09</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Removed references to xfs_freeze - it is no longer needed; Updated snapshots subsection in Anatomy of LVM section; Added a couple entries to the LVM2 FAQ; Fixed a couple typos</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.14</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-10-06</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Added reference to lvm2_createinitrd in source tree; Adjusted lvcreate example slightly; Added 'vgchange -ay' in 'Moving a volume group to another system' recipe</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.13</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-08-16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Clarify symlink farm description; Fix dm control device major number; Remove /boot from vg in small lvm setup example; Add notes about /boot and / on LVM; Remove outdated link;</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.12</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-06-07</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated LVM2 FAQ entries</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.11</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-05-03</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated LVM2 FAQ entries</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.10</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-04-22</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >removed -print0 from find command after receiving reports that it doesn't work</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.9</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-04-16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Added -print0 to find command before piping it to cpio; Changed vgimport command line for LVM 2; Added ext3 to the ext2 resize section; Updated FAQ; Updated Links section</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.8</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-02-25</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated CVS locations and FTP links; Added section on extending a JFS filesystem; Fixed typos - Ran aspell against document</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.7</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-02-16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated to include LVM 2 and device mapper information; Updated email addresses; Updated copyright; Added FAQ section; Added document license; Updated to docbook 4.2</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.6</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2003-12-09</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated for LVM 1.0.8; fixed broken link; Clarified redhat init script section;</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.5</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2003-02-10</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated Redhat initscript information for 7.0 and above; Added information on removing a partition table from a disk if pvcreate fails; Default PE size is 32MB now; Updated method for snapshotting under XFS.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.4</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-12-16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated for LVM 1.0.6</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.3</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-09-16</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >removed example pvmove from Command Operations section - we now just point to the more detailed recipe on pvmove that contains various warnings and such</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.2</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-09-11</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: ajl</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated for LVM 1.0.5 and converted to DocBook XML 4.1.2.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 0.1</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-04-28</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: gf</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Initial conversion from Sistina's LaTeX source and import to tLDP in LinuxDoc format.</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ><DIV ><DIV CLASS="abstract" ><A NAME="AEN127" ></A ><P ></P ><P > This document describes how to build, install, and configure LVM for Linux. A basic description of LVM is also included. This version of the HowTo is for LVM 2 with device-mapper, as well as LVM 1.0.8. </P ><P ></P ></DIV ></DIV ><HR></DIV ><DIV CLASS="TOC" ><DL ><DT ><B >Table of Contents</B ></DT ><DT ><A HREF="intro.html" >Introduction</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >1. <A HREF="latest_version.html" >Latest Version</A ></DT ><DT >2. <A HREF="disclaimer.html" >Disclaimer</A ></DT ><DT >3. <A HREF="contributors.html" >Contributors</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >1. <A HREF="whatislvm.html" >What is LVM?</A ></DT ><DT >2. <A HREF="whatisvolman.html" >What is Logical Volume Management?</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >2.1. <A HREF="whywouldiwantit.html" >Why would I want it?</A ></DT ><DT >2.2. <A HREF="benefitsoflvmsmall.html" >Benefits of Logical Volume Management on a Small System</A ></DT ><DT >2.3. <A HREF="benefitsoflvmlarge.html" >Benefits of Logical Volume Management on a Large System</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >3. <A HREF="anatomy.html" >Anatomy of LVM</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >3.1. <A HREF="vg.html" >volume group (VG)</A ></DT ><DT >3.2. <A HREF="pv.html" >physical volume (PV)</A ></DT ><DT >3.3. <A HREF="lv.html" >logical volume (LV)</A ></DT ><DT >3.4. <A HREF="pe.html" >physical extent (PE)</A ></DT ><DT >3.5. <A HREF="le.html" >logical extent (LE)</A ></DT ><DT >3.6. <A HREF="tyingittogether.html" >Tying it all together</A ></DT ><DT >3.7. <A HREF="mapmode.html" >mapping modes (linear/striped)</A ></DT ><DT >3.8. <A HREF="snapshotintro.html" >Snapshots</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >4. <A HREF="faq.html" >Frequently Asked Questions</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >4.1. <A HREF="lvm2faq.html" >LVM 2 FAQ</A ></DT ><DT >4.2. <A HREF="lvm1faq.html" >LVM 1 FAQ</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >5. <A HREF="getlvm.html" >Acquiring LVM</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >5.1. <A HREF="downloadsource.html" >Download the source</A ></DT ><DT >5.2. <A HREF="publiccvs.html" >Download the development source via CVS</A ></DT ><DT >5.3. <A HREF="beforebeginning.html" >Before You Begin</A ></DT ><DT >5.4. <A HREF="initsetup.html" >Initial Setup</A ></DT ><DT >5.5. <A HREF="checkoutsource.html" >Checking Out Source Code</A ></DT ><DT >5.6. <A HREF="codeupdate.html" >Code Updates</A ></DT ><DT >5.7. <A HREF="startproj.html" >Starting a Project</A ></DT ><DT >5.8. <A HREF="hackingcode.html" >Hacking the Code</A ></DT ><DT >5.9. <A HREF="conflicts.html" >Conflicts</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >6. <A HREF="buildkernelmods.html" >Building the kernel modules</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >6.1. <A HREF="builddmmod.html" >Building the device-mapper module</A ></DT ><DT >6.2. <A HREF="buildlvmmod.html" >Build the LVM 1 kernel module</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >7. <A HREF="boot_scripts.html" >LVM 1 Boot time scripts</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >7.1. <A HREF="initscriptcaldera.html" >Caldera</A ></DT ><DT >7.2. <A HREF="initscriptdebian.html" >Debian</A ></DT ><DT >7.3. <A HREF="initscriptmandrake.html" >Mandrake</A ></DT ><DT >7.4. <A HREF="initscriptredhat.html" >Redhat</A ></DT ><DT >7.5. <A HREF="initscriptslackware.html" >Slackware</A ></DT ><DT >7.6. <A HREF="initscriptsuse.html" >SuSE</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >8. <A HREF="lvm2_boot.html" >LVM 2 Boot Time Scripts</A ></DT ><DT >9. <A HREF="buildlvm.html" >Building LVM from the Source</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >9.1. <A HREF="makelvm1user.html" >Make LVM library and tools</A ></DT ><DT >9.2. <A HREF="installlvm1user.html" >Install LVM library and tools</A ></DT ><DT >9.3. <A HREF="removelvm1user.html" >Removing LVM library and tools</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >10. <A HREF="trans1.html" >Transitioning from previous versions of LVM to LVM 1.0.8</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >10.1. <A HREF="upgradelvm1.html" >Upgrading to LVM 1.0.8 with a non-LVM root partition</A ></DT ><DT >10.2. <A HREF="upgradetolvmroot.html" >Upgrading to LVM 1.0.8 with an LVM root partition and initrd</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >11. <A HREF="commontask.html" >Common Tasks</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >11.1. <A HREF="initdisks.html" >Initializing disks or disk partitions</A ></DT ><DT >11.2. <A HREF="createvgs.html" >Creating a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >11.3. <A HREF="activatevgs.html" >Activating a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >11.4. <A HREF="removevgs.html" >Removing a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >11.5. <A HREF="addpvstovg.html" >Adding physical volumes to a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >11.6. <A HREF="removepvsfromvg.html" >Removing physical volumes from a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >11.7. <A HREF="createlv.html" >Creating a logical volume</A ></DT ><DT >11.8. <A HREF="removelv.html" >Removing a logical volume</A ></DT ><DT >11.9. <A HREF="extendlv.html" >Extending a logical volume</A ></DT ><DT >11.10. <A HREF="reducelv.html" >Reducing a logical volume</A ></DT ><DT >11.11. <A HREF="migrateoffpv.html" >Migrating data off of a physical volume</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >12. <A HREF="diskpart.html" >Disk partitioning</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >12.1. <A HREF="multpartitions.html" >Multiple partitions on the same disk</A ></DT ><DT >12.2. <A HREF="sundisklabels.html" >Sun disk labels</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >13. <A HREF="recipes.html" >Recipes</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >13.1. <A HREF="recipethreescsi.html" >Setting up LVM on three SCSI disks</A ></DT ><DT >13.2. <A HREF="recipethreescsistripe.html" >Setting up LVM on three SCSI disks with striping</A ></DT ><DT >13.3. <A HREF="recipeadddisk.html" >Add a new disk to a multi-disk SCSI system</A ></DT ><DT >13.4. <A HREF="snapshots_backup.html" >Taking a Backup Using Snapshots</A ></DT ><DT >13.5. <A HREF="removeadisk.html" >Removing an Old Disk</A ></DT ><DT >13.6. <A HREF="recipemovevgtonewsys.html" >Moving a volume group to another system</A ></DT ><DT >13.7. <A HREF="recipesplitvg.html" >Splitting a volume group</A ></DT ><DT >13.8. <A HREF="upgraderoottolvm.html" >Converting a root filesystem to LVM 1</A ></DT ><DT >13.9. <A HREF="recovermetadata.html" >Recover physical volume metadata</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >A. <A HREF="dangerousops.html" >Dangerous Operations</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >A.1. <A HREF="uuidfixer.html" >Restoring the VG UUIDs using uuid_fixer</A ></DT ><DT >A.2. <A HREF="sharinglvm1.html" >Sharing LVM volumes</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >B. <A HREF="reportbug.html" >Reporting Errors and Bugs</A ></DT ><DT >C. <A HREF="contactsandlinks.html" >Contact and Links</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >C.1. <A HREF="maillists.html" >Mail lists</A ></DT ><DT >C.2. <A HREF="links.html" >Links</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >D. <A HREF="gfdl.html" >GNU Free Documentation License</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >D.1. <A HREF="gfdl-0.html" >PREAMBLE</A ></DT ><DT >D.2. <A HREF="gfdl-1.html" >APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS</A ></DT ><DT >D.3. <A HREF="gfdl-2.html" >VERBATIM COPYING</A ></DT ><DT >D.4. <A HREF="gfdl-3.html" >COPYING IN QUANTITY</A ></DT ><DT >D.5. <A HREF="gfdl-4.html" >MODIFICATIONS</A ></DT ><DT >D.6. <A HREF="gfdl-5.html" >COMBINING DOCUMENTS</A ></DT ><DT >D.7. <A HREF="gfdl-6.html" >COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS</A ></DT ><DT >D.8. <A HREF="gfdl-7.html" >AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS</A ></DT ><DT >D.9. <A HREF="gfdl-8.html" >TRANSLATION</A ></DT ><DT >D.10. <A HREF="gfdl-9.html" >TERMINATION</A ></DT ><DT >D.11. <A HREF="gfdl-10.html" >FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE</A ></DT ><DT >D.12. <A HREF="gfdl-addendum.html" >ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ></DL ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="intro.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Introduction</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >